Attorneys act out wife stabbing husband in bed

ANDREW TILGHMAN, Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Susan Wright sobbed during her murder trial this morning as prosecutors brought her bloodstained bed into the courtroom and graphically demonstrated their version of how Wright tied up her husband and stabbed him 193 times.

Prosecutors maintain that Wright lured her husband, Jeffery, into the couple's bedroom on Jan. 13, 2003, tied him to the bedposts, stabbed him to death and buried him in their backyard so she could collect $200,000 in life insurance.

With at least one large bloodstain showing through the pink sheet on the mattress, Assistant District Attorney Paul Doyle lay on the bed and allowed himself to be tied with neckties and bathrobe sashes.

Assistant District Attorney Kelly Siegler climbed atop Doyle, straddling him on her knees, and made repeated stabbing motions with the knife that investigators say was used to kill Jeffery Wright.

The demonstration lasted about 20 minutes, and the bed was disassembled and removed from the courtroom.

Wright's attorney, Neal Davis, maintained during Tuesday's opening arguments that his client killed her 34-year-old husband in self-defense after being physically and emotionally abused for years. Davis said Wright's husband raped and beat her just before his death, and his client was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

"Out of sheer terror she stabbed him, over and over again," Davis told jurors.